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Expanding Horizons
(1400-1750)
The Quest for Spices
• Europe of 1300’s had depended on Asia and
India for spices
• Uses
– To preserve meats
– For perfumes, cosmetics, and medicines
Spice trade is controlled by Arabs and Venetian
merchants
• Chinese and Indian merchants sold spices to
Arab merchants, who shipped the cargoes
overland to Europe
• Arabs amass huge fortunes
Cut out the “Middle Man”
• Europeans look for direct trade routes
• Land routes are too risky
• Look for sea routes
• Motivations that lead Europeans into an era of
exploration
Era of Exploration
Why explore?
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Profit through direct trade with Asia
Christians want to stop the spread of Islam
Spread missionary work
Learning and imagination
Technology of Exploration
• The Compass-Chinese in Origin
• By 1100 sailors used the
astrolabe – determines the
altitude of the sun or other
heavenly bodies
• Perfected by the Arabs
• Maps-Inaccurate at the time but constantly
improving
• Cartographers—mapmakers
• Skilled improved by 1300 become accurate of
Mediterranean coastline
• Egyptian astronomer—Ptolemy works appear
in Europe
• He introduced the grid system-Longitude and
Latitude
• Construction of ships
– Late 1400’s shipwrights outfitted ships with
triangle-shape lateen sails (got from Arabs)
makes it possible to sail against the wind
– Multiple masts vs. just 1
– Moved rudders from the ship’s side to the
stern(back) made ships more maneuverable
• Larger ships
–Were built called Caravels
–Carry more cargo
–But could venture up
shallow inlets
Portugal Leads the Way
• 1st to venture out of Atlantic Ocean
• 1420-1580—goes down African coast—
looking for a route to Asia
• Prince Henry the Navigator
– Son of King John I of Portugal
– Not a sailor—never made an ocean voyage
– Brought together: mapmakers, mathematicians,
and astronomers to study navigation
Prince Henry the Navigator and
Portugal
• Sponsored many Portuguese
exploration
–In the Atlantic (West)
–Africa (South)
–Discovered the Azores, Madeira
Islands and Cape Verde
Portuguese Empire
and
Explorers
• Bartholomeu Dias
• 1487-Leaves Portugal
• 1488 - discovers the tip of
Africa
• Named: The Cape of Good
Hope
• Can now reach Asia by
sailing around Africa
Vasco da
Gama
Sailed from
Portugal to
India (took
10 months)
Spain’s Quest for Riches
• 1400’s end long wars with the Moors
• King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
• Italian navigator—Christopher Columbus
(1492)—wanted to reach India by sailing West
• Other European Rulers declined to finance
Columbus’ voyages
Wedding Portrait of Ferdinand and
Isabella
Columbus meeting with Ferdinand and
Isabella
Columbus sails from Spain
• August, 1492 sails with three ships (Nina,
Pinta, and Santa Maria)
• Calculated the trip to be 700 leagues
(2,200miles)
• Much longer-crew gets nervous-false sightings
of land- crew wants to turn back-MutinyColumbus agrees to turn back in 3 days
• After midnight on the 2nd day the expedition
sights land
• Sets foot on the Island of Bahamas
• Columbus believes he is off the west coast of
India – “Indians”
• Spent the next 3 mos. Exploring the island
(present day Haiti/Dominican Republic and
Cuba)—looking for GOLD
Columbus Title
• Ferdinand and Isabella give the title:
“Admiral
of the Oceans Sea,
Viceroy and Governor of the
Islands he hath discovered in the
Indies”
Amerigo Vespucci
• Stated Columbus discovered a New World
• In honor of him the name “America” begins to
appear on maps
Dividing the World
• Spain and Portugal want to protect their
claims and turn to the Pope for help
• 1493 Pope draws the Line of Demarcation—an
imaginary line running down the middle of the
Atlantic from the North Pole to the South Pole
• Spain controls all lands West
• Portugal -- East
Treaty of Tordesillas
• (TAWR-duh-See-yahs)
• Agree to move the line of demarcation more
WEST
• Divides all of the lands between the 2
countries
Line of Demarcation
Voyage of
Magellan
Portuguese
Soldier
Magellan
• Discovered the Tip of South America—Strait of
Magellan
• Then sails to the Pacific Ocean (lost ships,
killed Captains, Mutiny on the trip)
• Sailed for 4 more months reached the
Philippines
• Magellan is killed in a small skirmish between
a local chief and his enemy-rest of crew
escapes
• Crew sails back to Spain
• Voyage last 3 years (1519-1522)
• The last ship of Magellan’s reaches Spain-ship
is the Victoria—lands in Seville, Spain
• THIS IS THE 1ST CIRCUMNAVIGATION of the
globe
Results of Magellan
• Proved that the world was
round
• The oceans are connected
• Columbus did not discover a
route to Asia
Overseas Empires
• Portugal and Spain
• Portugal: Main interest lay in Africa and Asia—
TRADE
• Eager to trade with India
• Less than 6 mos. After the return of Vasco de
Gama, 13 ships were dispatched to India—
Spices—Led by Pedro Alvares Cabral—
defeated Muslims in a trade war (bloody)
Portugal
• Now control the trade routes
• Expand trade to ports in China and Japan
• They also colonized Brazil
–Grew sugarcane, tobacco, coffee and
cotton
–Brought slaves from Africa
Spain
• Conquistadors
• Hernan Cortes—left Cuba for Mexico in 1519
• Sailed with 11 ships and 500 men
• Landed and marched towards Tenochtitlan
The Aztec capital
Cortes
Montezuma II
• Aztec ruler
• Aztecs thought the Spanish as, “supernatural
creatures riding on hornless deer, preceded by
wild animals on leashes, dressed in iron.”
• Believed that the Spanish had come to fulfill a
legendary prophecy—he offers gold
• Spaniards see the riches of the city
• Spanish slaughter 50,000Aztecs
• European diseases killed hundred of
thousands
• Within 3 years Cortes ruled
Mexico
Francisco Pizarro
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Invaded Incas (present day Peru)
Captures Inca leader Atahualpa
(AH-tuh-WAHL-puh)
Pizarro has 100 men—he slaughters 2,000 of
Atahualpa’s body guards
• Atahualpa– fill room with gold in 3 mos.
• Doesn’t accomplish it
• Pizarro kills him—chokes vs. burns
Pizarro
Building an Empire
• 1600’s Spanish Empire
includes
• West Indies, Central America,
much of South America and
parts of U.S.
2 Goals in Americas
• Exploit wealth
• Convert natives to Christianity
– Believed that Natives were their subjects—
entitled to land must abide by Spanish Law
However: They were abused by plantation owners,
destroyed their temples, and banned their
religions
• Disease was their worst enemy
• Locked immunity to: small pox, measles, and
influenza
• In the first 50 years of Spanish control
– Inca population fell from 7 million to 1 million
– Spanish bring more enslaved Africans over as
laborers
Most valuable export—Silver and Gold
Crown keeps 1/5 of every shipment
Pirates cut into profits
Colonies of the Netherlands
• Late 1500’s the Dutch win their Independence
from Spain
• Dutch Middle Class see commerce the key to
survival
• Dutch efficient sailors
– Carry more cargo with smaller crews
– Why is this good?
Amsterdam
• Becomes the world’s
largest commercial city
• Enjoy the highest standard
of living
Dutch Trading
• 1602 The Dutch East India Co. is chartered
• 1619 Co sets up headquarters at Batavia on
the island of Java (Indonesia)
• Control island trade in: sugar, spices, coffee
and tea
• By 1621 push the Portuguese and English out
of Asia—Muslims were pushed out as well
Indonesia
Dutch Explorers
• Henry Hudson
• Sets out for N. America—claims land along the
Atlantic coast
• In 1621 the governments charters the Dutch
West Indies Co. to establish colonies in
America
• New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island at the
mouth of the Hudson River
• 1652-establish colonies in Africa
• Dutch farmers known as Boers settled at the
Cape of Good Hope
• By 1700’s Dutch power declines—English had
emerged as Europe’s leading maritime nation
French and English Colonies
• France
• 1524-Giovanni da Verrazano (Italian) hired by
the French in order to find a Northwest
passage to Asia—NO SUCCESS
• 10 years later
• 1534-Jaques Cartier sails up the St. Lawrence
River to present day Montreal (claims much of
Eastern Canada for France)
• 1608-Samuel de Champlain founded Quebecthe 1st permanent settlement in America for
the French
• 1673-Missionaries Jacques Marquette and
Louis Joliet explore the Mississippi Valley
• Robert Cavalier A.K.A> Sueur de La Salle claim
the entire inland region surrounding the
Mississippi River for France
• French send Jesuits missionaries to convert
the Native Americans
• French explorers trade with Native Americans
• French also set-up colonies in the West Indies
England
• 1497-Henry VIII commissions Italian John
Cabot to explore the coast of Newfoundland
• Giving English the claim to the Americas
• 1500’s English sea captains harass the
Portuguese and Spanish—become Privateers
or Pirates
• 1580’s Francis Drake-1st Englishman to
circumnavigate the globe-also a pirate
English Trading
• 1600 English found the English East Indies Co.
• Chartered by Queen Elizabeth I
• Settled on the island of Jamaica, Bahamas,
and Barbados
• 1640-English introduce sugarcane plantations
to the island
– Worked by slave labor
– Made 3x’s more profit than tobacco
• 1606- The Virginia Co. of London—sent
expeditions to America to search for gold and
silver
• The following year the Co. founded the 1st
permanent English settlement-Jamestown
• A group of religious dissenters calling
themselves Pilgrims founded a second colony
Plymouth—present day Massachusetts
Slave Trade
• In the 1600’s the colonies of the America’s
based their economies on agricultural
products that required intensive labor
• Sugar, tobacco, coffee, and mining
Triangular Trade
• Ships sailed the legs of the triangle formed by
Europe, Africa, and the Americas
• In European ports ship carried: manufactured
goods (knives, swords, guns, clothes, rum)
• West Africa: traded enslaved Africans bought
from local rulers
• America: Enslaved Africans brought for laborsold and money used to purchase sugar,
molasses, cotton, and tobacco
• Ships returned to Europe to sell goodscompleting the triangle
The Middle Passage
• Name given to the ordeal an enslaved person’s
journey from the West coast of Africa to the
lands of the Americas
• Slave traders packed the ships as tightly as
possible with their “human cargo”
• Occupied a space of 4 to 5 feet high to 2-3 feet
wide
• Chained together-they could neither fully
stand-up nor lie down
• Lived in darkness and stifling heat
• Trip took 5-12 weeks
• Estimated range of Africans brought to
the Americas 10-24 million
• 1 in 5 who began the trip did not survive
• Psychological torment may have been
worse than physical—some Africans
jumped overboard, some refused to eat
(suicide)
An Enslaved Person’s Life
• Face the slave auction—dehumanizing
• Examined and prodded
• Most worked as laborers
– Clearing land
– Hoeing
– Planting
– Weeding
– Harvesting
• The work is hard and the hours are long
• Life expectancy was short
• Many Europeans believed that
Africans were physically suited to
hard labor, especially in hot, humid
climates. The enslaved people were
viewed as nothing more than a unit
of labor to exploit for profit.
Resistance
• Many enslaved people take action to gain
their freedom
• Some fled and started their own free
communities
• Mass Rebellion was the ultimate weapon
– Slaves out-numbered free populations
– Most rebellions take place in the Caribbean
– Carried out attacks on plantations, burned crops
and murdered their owners
Saint Dominique
• Only successful uprising was in the Frenchruled island of Saint Dominique
• Rebellion in 1790’s leads to a proclamation of
independence in 1804
• Haiti
Changing Ways of Life
• The Commercial Revolution
• With a growing economy—Europe expands its
business methods in order to facilitate profit
from world trade
• By 1600’s the nation has replaced the city and
village now compete for markets and goods
• New Business: Investing money=venture
capitalism
• This becomes known as the Commercial
Revolution
New Business Methods
• Overseas trading Ventures
• Risky
• Had to raise money to pay for supplies and
goods
• Hire a captain and crew
• Often took several years—the trips
Finance methods
• 1st turn to Bankers to finance—Medici’s of
Florence
• By 1600’s Chartered Government Banks
replace wealthy families
– Bank accept deposits
– Charge and give interests
– Bank notes and checks—large payments of heavy
coins a thing of the past
– Exchange currencies—now have exchange rates
• Joint Stock Companies
– Raise money for ventures
– Sold stock
– Make profits in the risk of trading voyages
• Entrepreneurs
– Combined money, ideas, raw materials, and labor
to make goods and profit
– Take risk and get reward
– Bring products from conception to sale
How European Countries Gain
Wealth
• Mercantilism- a theory of national economic
policy that states power depends on its
wealth.
• Goal of every nation is to become as wealthy
as possible
• Bullion- gold and silver---can measure wealth
of a nation by this
• Balance of trade-favorable by exporting more
goods than importing
• Government encourage manufacturing by
setting tariffs and taxes on imports and
exports
Social and Religious Trends
• Population in Europe
– 1450 55 million
– 1650 100 million
Why the increase?
Trade/higher standard of living
new foods from the Americas
thought potatoes caused leprosy
• Many cases the merchant class exceeded the
nobility in wealth
• Peasants lives did not change that much
• Religious values emphasized the Value of
Work
• Law: It’s a crime not to work
• Some government relief to the “worthy poor”
• A strong nation needs healthy citizens for
work and soldiers
Overseas Colonies
• Became an outlet for surplus population
• Why people left for colonies
– Poor
– Criminals
– Social Outcasts
– Volunteers seek wealth
– Wars
– Religious persecution